Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

Student Audience

Information Inquiry Role

Student Performance

Teaching Materials

Learning Materials

Feedback and Evaluation

Field Test

Unit Comparison

Books for First Grade

Books for High School

Student Resources for First Grade

Student Resources for High School

Indiana Academic Standards for First Grade

Indiana Academic Standards for High School

ReferencesStudent Audience

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First Grade - All about Ants

High School - Voices from the Desert

Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

The first unit is designed for Joy Elementary School in Michigan City, Indiana. The PreK-5 school’s demographics are 56% minority and 61% free and reduced lunch. Last year, 2004-05, 49% of the students passed the math portion of ISTEP and 53% passed the language arts portion. 1 The first grade teachers have been teaching at this school for many years and stay current with educational research and spend time each year learning new techniques to use with students. Special needs students are taught in the regular education classrooms, sometimes a paraprofessional or the special needs teacher will be present. Many students with cognitive special needs are not identified at first grade but there are students with physical disabilities and require assistive technology. Currently this class has a student with limited vision so the lesson must include a tactile component to include the student in the learning process. The teachers use the Four-Block model to teach literacy and recently have had Wilson Reading training.

All About Ants is a multi-disciplinary unit for first grade students. For many of the students 1/2 day kindergarten is their first school experience and enter school as non-readers. Some students have had minimal experiences outside of a school setting (most have not visited libraries, zoos, museums etc.) The students are active and curious. Class size is kept small through grants. There are four first grade classrooms and they have between 18-22 students. Teaching assistants and parent volunteers come in regularly and spend time reading to the students or listening to them read. Students may also leave the room to see the speech teacher, occupational, or physical therapist. Sometimes these professionals work with the students in the classroom too. The students are interested in learning and are motivated by hands on activities. This unit is a hands-on unit using materials and objects familiar to first graders.

The second unit is for high school seniors at Michigan City High School. Michigan City High School is a large high school housing 2,015 students, 426 students are seniors.2 The graduation rate for seniors was 84.5% in 2004-05. According to the IDOE website 57% of the high school graduates pursue a college education. 46.9% of the students passed both math and language arts portion of the ISTEP test.

Voices from the Desert is a multi-disciplinary unit for high school seniors. Many of the students work part time after school and weekends and after graduation continue working at a low paying job or join a branch of the military. These students may have a friend or relative serving in the military and be familiar with some aspects of military life or may be considering the military as a career option for themselves. This unit will allow students to explore the experiences, hopes and dreams of other young people and connect their military experience to real world events.

Information Inquiry Role

First Grade Unit1 Indiana Department of Education http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=48212 Indiana Department of Education http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=4795

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Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

The multi-disciplinary unit for first grade will focus on a familiar insect, ants. The content areas to be addressed are science and language arts.3 Students will:

Differentiate between alive and not alive (ants, rocks etc.) Identify attributes of objects that are real and not real using a KWL chart (ants do

not speak, wear clothes, make plans, etc.) Observe and explain differences amongst the ants appearances and behaviors Identify and explain components necessary to maintain life Generate and read simple sentences about ants using appropriate capitalization,

punctuation and spelling, using legible and appropriate handwriting Identify book features (title, author, etc.) Create classroom books about ants based on classroom experiences and using

sequential order Students will tell stories about ants

Students will experience ants through observation of live insects utilizing an ant farm in the classroom and a school-ground field trip to observe ants in their natural environment. Supplemental materials will include video, print materials and group discussions. Students will work in small groups at centers, sometimes the students will work with an instructional assistant, and parent volunteer or special needs teacher. The classroom teacher and the media specialists will work together to facilitate the instruction of this unit. Students will learn about ants, the different roles ands play in their community, and how ants work together to accomplish tasks.

This unit will take 3 weeks to complete (1/2 a grading period) and followed by a similar unit on bees. Students will be able to use their knowledge from the ant unit and apply this background information to the second unit thereby reinforcing concepts and skills learned during the ant unit.

Information Literacy Instruction will focus on two standards of Social Responsibility. Standard 7: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and

to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.

Standard 9: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

Information Inquiry will focus on an essential question generated by the students after their group brainstorming. Information Inquiry focuses on questioning & exploration, assimilation & inference, reflection and back to questioning etc. This is a cyclic process because while students are assimilating and reflecting they are generating new questions that require more exploration, assimilation etc.

3 See section, Indiana Academic Standards for First Grade, for an itemized list of the specific standards covered in this unit

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The type of information Inquiry will be controlled 4 due to the fact that first grade students will not have the vocabulary or background knowledge to generate an essential question without adult assistance. The teacher recording student ideas will use the graphic organizer, Kidspiration. The ideas generated will serve as the road map for inquiry for the unit.

Time line and responsible staff member

Lesson/Time Staff Member ActivityIntroduction to unit Classroom teacher

and media specialistStudents will brain storm about ants and list everything they know about ants.This list will be used throughout the unit. Some ideas from students may not be true facts but will be investigated by the class as part of the inquiry.

One session to determine what students know and want to know about antsObservation Classroom teacher Students will work in small groups and

observe ants. Students will draw pictures of ants and be able to tell the class what they saw using their picture. Pictures will be enhanced with texture so the visually impaired student can feel the illustration. Students will also observe the classroom ant farm, ant web-cam5 and ant farm movie6 to compare the ant farm to the ants outside. The web cam will run continuously throughout the course of the unit to observe the daily changes that occur in the anthill. Students will record daily observations using pictures and words from the word wall.

Daily to build background knowledge about ants

Real and not real

Alive and not alive

Media specialist and classroom teacher

Students listen to fictional and non-fictional stories and watch videos designed for vision impaired individuals about ants. Students generate lists about what “real” ants can and cannot do. Students list

4 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning5 Ant Web Cam6 Ant Farm Movie

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Lesson/Time Staff Member Activityattributes (adult records their ideas) necessary for living and non-living things. Students will participate in an Internet Quest7 to locate more facts about ants. These lists are on-going and posted around the classroom for the duration of the unit.*

Ongoing to build background knowledge about ants

Information Inquiry Media specialist and classroom teacher

Students will work as a group to perform a guided information inquiry experience. See detailed lesson and student materials.*

Making books Classroom teacher, parent volunteers, paraprofessional, or special ed teachers

Students write books about ants. Students will need to decide if their book is about real ants with real ant behaviors or fictional ants that might talk and wear clothes. Students may write more than one book, Students must use the charts posted around the room for their information. Some books will be enhanced with cloth, vinyl, sandpaper and other textural elements for the visually impaired student.

Ongoing to build a classroom library of fiction and non-fiction books about ants

Different Ants Classroom teacher, parent volunteers, paraprofessional, or special ed teachers

Students will use information gleaned about ants to make dimensional ants. Students will use clay, paper, Styrofoam and other materials to create the ants. Students will make labels to identify the type of ant and it’s function.

One to Three Sessions

Conclusion Classroom teacher and media specialist

Students will share their learning experience with the school by hosting a mini-ant museum showcasing student work of pictures, stories, ant farms, and displays. Students will answer questions and read books about ants.

One session

*These lessons will be taught by the media specialist and will have more detail and handouts than can fit in this summary box. Lessons can be found under teaching materials and student materials can be found under learning materials.

Both the first grade unit and the high school unit will require the collaboration between the classroom teacher and media specialist during formal plan times and informally as they work on this project. Formal collaboration will design the overall structure of the unit and define who is responsible for which aspects, informal formative collaboration is necessary to check up on the unit and make changes as necessary in response to student needs and understandings.

7 InternetQuest

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The first grade students visit the media center at scheduled times once a week. Over the three week unit the media specialist will interact with the class three times but be in constant contact with the classroom teacher supplying resources and materials. The contact may occur through e-mail, notes, phone, or face to fact meetings.

The high school English teacher must sign up in advance to schedule a visit to media center. At collaboration it was determined the students would need a lot of time to look up primary source materials, research materials, write letters and take notes. Since the classroom does not have enough computers for each student, most of the unit will take place in the library. Some instruction will be primarily from the English teacher and other lessons will require both the media specialists and classroom. Since the English teacher teaches 4 different 12th grade classes, this unit will be taught simultaneously for the four classes. The problem this represents for the media specialists is how the print materials will be shared. Prior to beginning the unit as many books as can be secured and will be put on reserve in the library for student use but not available for student checkout. Internet materials will not be an issue as there are enough computers for each student and the school has high speed Internet.

High School UnitWorld History, Desert Storm, Gulf War

The multi-disciplinary high school unit will primarily focus on language arts standards but also tie in history and world events. The unit is called, Voices from the Desert, and focus on the letters and feelings of people serving in the military during the time of Desert Storm. Students will use primary source materials and a book titled, Voices from the Front. Jarhead is an optional book of one marine’s experience during the Gulf War but not required reading due to the graphic language in the book. This unit will be taught during the class period of 50 minutes everyday for 1/2 grading period (three weeks.)

The Indiana Academic Standards8 for this unit are: Identifiy and explain the importance of key events and people associated with

domestic problems and foreign policy from 1980 to 2001 Verify and clarify facts from several types of expository texts Analyze an author's implicit and explicit assumptions about a subject Critique the power, validity, and truthfulness of writing material using primary

source documents Evaluate a view of life using evidence to support the claim Analyze the tone of the author's style

8 See section, Indiana Academic Standards for High School, for an itemized list of the specific standards covered in this unit

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(Picture accessed from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/images/storyD_main.jpg used as part of classroom instruction per the Teach Act and not with permission from copyright holder)

Information Literacy will be Modeled or Free9 depending on the needs of the student. Some students will need more structure if they are unfamiliar with independent learning. Even though this unit is for high school seniors, it cannot be determined ahead of time which students will need a more structured approach to Information Literacy. All students will initially participate in Modeled Information Literacy as a scaffolded learning experience. As students begin to move away from Modeled into Free, they will use the cyclic learning process of questioning & investigating, assimilation & inference, reflecting and back to questioning & investigating etc. This process reflects real world learning, where the more information you acquire the more questions you develop; it can cause a constant shift and/or growth in our perceptions and actions.

All nine Information Literacy standards10 will be embedded into the unit. Students working at the 12th grade level should be proficient in the literacy standards, and if they hadn’t had the experience before, this is their last opportunity to learn them during their high school experience.

Standard 1: The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.

9 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning10 American Library Association Information Literacy Standards

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Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

Standard 2: The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently.

Standard 3: The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

Standard 5: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.

Standard 6: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

Standard 7: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.

Standard 8: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.

Standard 9: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

Lesson/Time Staff Member ActivityIntroduction Classroom

teacher and media specialist

Students will use Insipration work as a group to brainstorm everything they know about the Gulf War, the events leading to the war, the United States involvement in the war and the military personal feelings about the war. After the group document has been created each student will receive a digital copy. This document will be a personal road map for learning for the students. Students will select a topic from the group map to explore.

One Session

Research Media specialist and classroom teacher

Students access primary source documents from Library of Congress, Forever a Soldier. *Multiple class

sessionsResearch Media specialist

and classroom teacher

Students will research historical events based on the events information students read about at Forever a Soldier. Students will evaluate information and verify events.*

Multiple class sessions

Writing Classroom teacher

Students write letters describing an event, emotion or observation. Letters must convey a tone, mood, feeling persuasive or aesthetic purpose or both.

Multiple class sessionsConclusion Classroom

teacher and media specialists

Students create a finished project that can be shared. The project will be the student’s choice but must contain references and resources and can be print based or digital.

Several class periods

*These lessons will be taught by the media specialist and will have more detail and handouts than can fit in this summary box. Lessons can be found under teaching materials and student materials can be found under learning materials.

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Information Inquiry Model

First grade students will use the KCTools11 model for Information Processing. This models begins with I wonder….. Students will express what they wonder and what they know about ants. When questions are asked and the answer is unknown the media specialists will guide the students to an Internet search using grade appropriate websites. The media specialist will model searching for information questioning aloud so students understand the process and learn the questions to ask and search for.

The searching part of KCTools is called I Find… Not all answers can be found using the Internet. Students need to know what resources are available and how to find them. Sometimes print resources accessible in the library are the best age appropriate sources for some questions. When students are looking for information they need to think about key words, what words will help. Students would suggest words that can be used to find information. This list would be posted in the classroom along with the lists of true facts about ants.

The last step in the model is the I Evaluate… students review information to make sure they stay on topic, record resources, and proof documents to check for spelling, grammatical errors etc. The process is cyclic so when a student reaches the evaluation stage, information should be checked back to I Wonder…. To make sure that the questions have been answered.

High schools students will use a different model, The Big6.12 Students will define the task. This might be the most difficult task for students new to using an inquiry model. Students will support and guidance because when the task is defined clearly it will be easier for the student to follow the remaining 5 steps. As with all research models students should check back to the previous step, it is a cycle. Many sites will be provided to the students to use for this unit. Students may find additional websites that meet the criteria of a primary source document. If students are unaware of what defines a primary source site, which needs to be a mini-lesson. Primary source documents are the original documents not the secondary account of an event. When processing through step 3 in the Big6, location and access, students need to look at the source, date and author to determine the validity of the information.

The primary drawback of any resource model is time. When working in a cyclic process where do you finally stop? There is always more information to tweak, add or delete. Eventually the project needs to come to conclusion so it can be evaluated.

Student Performance

Students will create products as a performance indicator of mastery of objectives. The 11 ALA KCTools12 The Big6, Mike Eisenberg & Bob Berkowitz

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first grade students will begin with observations, and understandings. This is the first step in Blooms Taxonomy of learning. As students progress they will interpret, compare, and infer information to demonstrate comprehension. An example of this process in first grade would be when students are observing the ant farm and discussing what they see. Later students will compare what they saw in the ant farm to stories about ants. Did the ant farm ants behave like ants in the stories? Did they look the same? The comprehension part of the student performance will reinforce the students understanding of ants and ant behaviors.

The high school students will compare letters from soldier writing during the Gulf War to real historical events that occurred during the time the letters were written. Students will use newspaper accounts, websites, history books, etc. to cross-reference material soldiers experiences first hand and on a personal level.

Teaching Materials

First Grade Lesson – Real and Not RealResponsible Instructor – Media Specialist

Indiana Academic Standards – 1.4.1, 1.4.3, and 1.4.4Information Standards – 7 and 9

Time – 1 hourSupplies – Ant books; Little Red Ant and Great Big Crumb, and Ant CitiesTechnology Requirements – Projector, Kidspiration software, computer, and screen

Tell the students you are going to read them two different stories about ants. You want them to pay attention to what the ants do. Tell the children that after reading the stories you are going to ask them to tell you all the things that real ants can do and what ants in stories do. You will make a list using Kidspiration (See Sample in Learning Materials)

First Grade Lesson – Information Inquiry (What do ants need to live?)Responsible Instructor – Media Specialist

Indiana Academic Standards – 1.7.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.4Information Standards – 7 and 9

Time – 1 hour 2 sessionsSupplies – Non-fiction Ant Books; Ants, Are you an Ant?, & Magic School Bus Gets Ants, in the PantsTechnology Requirements - Internet connection to Read, Write, Think, Projector & computer

Session 1.

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Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

Tell the students you are going to read them stories about ants. You want them to pay attention to what ants need to stay alive. Tell the children that after reading the stories you are going to ask them to tell you all the things that real ants need to live.

Session 2.Review with previously read books with the students, ask them questions about ants, what do ants need to live, what do they remember from the story, etc? Go to Read, Write, Think at http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=80&title Read the screens to the students and allow them time to think and answer the questions. (See screen shot below, follow onscreen directions.) At the end of the lesson the document can be printed and added to the classroom resources.

High School Lesson – Research 1 Students will learn how to locate a Primary Source web site and what a Primary Source web site should contain.Responsible Instructor – Media Specialist

Indiana Academic Standards – 12.2.3, 12.2.6Information Standards – 1, 2, 3

Time – 1 hourSupplies – Paper and pencils

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Technology Requirements – Internet access for students, can share computers, projector, screen

Media specialist discusses the importance of Primary Source materials and how they are used. Students are given worksheet to locate and record information about Primary Source sites. Discuss the value of Primary Source resources. Ask student to list items that might be considered primary source material. From the student list have the students glean the essential criteria of Primary Source material. (Original text, document, audio file, photograph, or video file of the event by the original participant) Primary Source material is NOT a second hand account of an event.

“Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.” (Accessed from http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/#one )

Students will use the hand out to locate and record web sites containing Primary Source information and web sites which do not contain Primary Source information. Students will also write a short summary listed criteria which are necessary for Primary Source web sites.

High School Lesson – Research 2 - Students will locate historical information on the Internet and correlate it to events mentioned in the soldier’s letters.

Responsible Instructor – Media Specialist

Indiana Academic Standards – USH.8.1, USH.8.2, 12.2.5, 12.3.2Information Standards – 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7

Time – 1 hour (additional time will be used by the students to complete this assignement)Supplies – Paper and pencilsTechnology Requirements – Internet access for students, can share computers, projector, screen

Students will read various letters written by soldiers serving during the Gulf War. Students can use letters from the book, Voices from the Desert, or go to the website http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/video-audio.html and locate letters written during the Gulf War. Students must read the letters and pay close attention to world events or dates mentioned in the letters. Students should make notes of the events and dates. Students will use newspapers and historical documents to cross reference events and dates

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mentioned in the letters. Students will create a time line of information based on the information they have located. Students will develop a essential question based on their research.

Learning Materials

First Grade Whole Group Chart for Real –Not Real

First Grade – Information Inquiry (What do ants need to live?)

Screen 1

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Screen 2 Screen 3

Screen 4 Screen 5

Screen 6 Screen 7

High School – Research Lesson 1

Student Name _________________________________________ Date ___________

Locate 5 Primary Source and 5 non-primary source websites on the Internet. Answer the questions below: On a separate piece of paper summarize what determines if a site contains Primary Source materials. Use the following web site

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http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/ to check criteria to see if your site has Primary Source material.

Name of Site URL Author Last Date updated

Date Accessed

Primary Source (Y or N)

High School – Research Lesson 2

Use your book, Voices from the Desert, or go to the website http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/video-audio.html and locate letters written during the Gulf War. Read the letters paying close attention to world events or dates mentioned in the letters. Make notes of the events and dates. You will need to find supporting information about the historical events mentioned in the letters. Use newspapers and historical documents to cross reference events and dates mentioned in the letters. The class will create a time line of information based on the information you have located.

Feedback and Evaluation

First GradeAssessments13 in first grade will look different than assessment at the high school level. The assessment is about the learning process and students can make several attempts to produce acceptable work. Their level of dependence on an adult is also monitored. Can the student verbally tell the write answer but is unable to physically produce it? That could be a sign of poor motor skills not lock of knowledge about the topic. First grade students will have many opportunities to learn the concepts working towards the goal of independent learning.

Information literacy will be accessed as students use the resources (charts located around the room) to create their books. Students may need to be redirected to use available resources; this will build a skill that can be used throughout their academic career.

The final grade or evaluation of the unit will be summation of the student’s work. All the student’s work will be taken into account and compared to unit expectations and state standards.

First Grade Teacher’s Check list for Assessment

13 Lamb, http://eduscapes.com/info/assessment.html

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Task Assessment Tool

Attempts (Re-do’s)

Independence Level

Can identify different ants based on their appearance

Picture cards of ants

Can draw an ant following directions

Student drawn ant

Created a fictional book about ants Student BookCreated a non-fictional book about ants

Student Book

Can write in complete sentences using appropriate capitalization, punctuation

Student Books

Tell a story using pictures, Story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Picture cards

A tally will be kept of the number of attempts students produce to complete the task. The level of independence will be noted anecdotally. Can the student write legible? Does the student remember to capitalize the beginning of a sentence or do they need to be reminded? Is the student using the information in the room or do they need to be redirected? Etc.

First grade evaluation will be a summation of the unit. Students will answer questions applying skills learned from the unit.

First Grade EvaluationAll About Ants

Name ______________________________ Date ___________

1. Circle the real ants2. Draw an X through the not real ants

3. Draw an ant following these directions.

1. Draw three circles2. Draw six legs

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3. Write a sentence about an ant.

(Teacher note: After the test listen to the child read their sentence. Look for letter sound matching, one-to-one matching and fluency.

4. Read one of the class books to the teacher then answer the following questions.

1. What happened at the beginning of the story?2. Then what happened?3. How did the story end?

(Teacher listens to story, notes fluency, word to word match, and comprehension)

High School Evaluation

Lesson – Research Lesson 1

Students must be able to locate and identify a Primary Source website and list criteria that a Primary Source web site should include (see lesson plan for acceptable answers)

Lesson – Research Lesson 2

Students will find verifiable facts on the Internet that correlate to the letters soldiers had written during the Gulf War.

The high school students will develop an essential question using the original class brainstorming map, cross referenced letters and historical documents as a guide. Students will conduct research using primary source documents and make a presentation using a format of their choice. The presentations will be displayed in a museum format in the library for the student body to view and interact with. Some elements to be included are:

Primary source documents cross-referenced with historical events. List of world events that led to the conflict. List of United States events that led to the conflict. Presentation is interesting and appropriate to the topic Presentation is free from grammatical errors, and contains accurate historical

events. Identify the tone used in the veteran’s letters and in the presentation.

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Field Test

E-mail from Nann Nietupski a former high school teacher

E-mail from Debbie Gann an elementary teacher at Joy Elementary School

First grade student identified real ants and pretend ants (at Google images http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=ants&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) after a mini-lesson about real vs. not real ant qualities.

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From: nannjenny@yahoo.comSubject: projectDate: December 7, 2005 7:05:39 AM CSTTo: maryg117@comcast.net

MaryYour project is well done.  The subject matter was well chosen.  I particularly liked the ants for the First graders. I am sure your units will reach the students. Nann

From: dgann@mcas.k12.in.us Subject: Re: my project Date: December 7, 2005 6:07:17 PM CST To: maryg117@comcast.net Both projects look "teacher friendly" - something that has practicalusage in the classroom. It is obvious that a great deal of thought hasgone into these projects - even by the mere size of the project.Good comparison of question developmental levels.Suggestions: oops a couple of type-o's, usage errors and verb tense.The ant graphics split the text too much - difficult to read.Add objectives for the drawing and making ant activities.Use a KWL style chart for the discussion of real and not real topicWhat program will the high school class use to brainstorm?What about e-mail communication with a current soldier or a veteran.Good Luck!

Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

Real ant Not a real ant“I’ve seen ants like “Ant’s don’t wearthis outside.” hats or have hands.”

Matthew SchuhrFirst Grade Student, Orland Park, Illinois

Unit Comparison

Young students may not have the vocabulary14, experience or background when using words to describe abstract concepts. They require hands-on learning experiences using concrete objects. Many students enter Joy school with limited experiences and need to build experiences and knowledge at school. The lack of experience may cause primary students may be unable to conduct independent learning and searching using the Internet. They will not have the background or skills to be independent and will participate in a Controlled15 learning experience managed by the classroom teacher and media specialist.

The cognitive development of children parallels their ability and need for support in the classroom. Jean Piaget suggests that students ages 2-7 are preoperational and at ages 7-11 move into the concrete operational stage of learning16. It is possible that both stages may be present in a first grade classroom depending on the experiences of the student. Students in the preoperational are egocentric thinking about themselves and how the world relates to them, they focus on one dimension or idea at a time. Students in the concrete operational stage are learning conversion, but have a difficult time thinking abstractly or hypothetically. As students mature they begin to develop higher order thinking skills and can process abstract concepts and ideas.

Controlled learning experiences are the first steps towards the goal of Free independent learning. As students enter school they need instruction and scaffolding so that they can develop into independent learners. The first grade students will rely on the adults to develop questions for study, first grade students do not have the vocabulary, experience or background to do this on their own. It is not to be assumed that high schools students due have the necessary skills to conduct independent research but they have more

14 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning15 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning16 Jean Piaget Society

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cognitive abilities to process information, draw comparisons, reach conclusions, and analogies.

Students at the secondary level have developed strategies to locate information. Sometimes their strategies are inefficient and need help from the classroom teacher or media specialist to improve search methods. The levels of inquiry used at the high school level are Modeled and Free17 Modeled support means that techniques are modeled by the teacher, Free support is where students are working independently.

Questions and prompts are different for first grade and high school students as a result of the student’s maturation level. Although students should be asked similar types of questions comprehension, literal, interpretative, inferential, and evaluative the questions and answers will vary in complexity. For example a first grade question might be: After reading the story 2 Bad Ants, Tell me why the story is called two bad ants. The student might respond there were only two ants in the story and they were bad, the teacher prods, how were they bad, they student might say they went into the sink and so on with the teacher questioning and prompting to help the student think. At the high school level it would be more appropriate to ask, Did the United States need to become involved in the Gulf War? There might be many different answers to this question based on the students perspective. Yes, because the US helps to protect small countries that are friendly with our policies, No, because it is not our responsibility to put our service people at risk when it is not our war.

As students progress through school they develop more skills. They progress from novice to expert as a student scientist. A novice student scientist does not innately have the skills of an information scientist; they must be developed through core concepts and experiences, task analysis, pattern recognition, meta-cognition, and self regulations. 18 As students progress through school they develop and expand their experiences so by the time they enter high school they have a broad background of knowledge to draw upon. Students learn to break down tasks to identify the key idea or concept to be studied. Students look for patterns from their experiences so they can utilize their resources and background knowledge. Meta-cognition allows students to think about what they know and build on prior experiences. Teachers and media specialists can develop these qualities by creating learner centered environments to foster independent learning.

17 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning18 Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning

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Books (for students ages 4-8)Describes the appearance, life cycle, activities, and social habits of ants. (non-fiction)

ISBN: 0812047214

Miss Fizzle takes school children into a ant hill to learn more about ants. (fictional story with non-fictional facts)

ISBN: 059040024X

Describes each ant ant’s it’s job and purpose in the ant community.(non-fiction)

ISBN: 0064450791

Explores a day in the life of an ant.(non-fiction)

ISBN: 0753458039

A Mexican folk tale about an ant trying to move a heavy crumb and learning a lesson that she can do it if she thinks she can. (fiction)ISBN: 0395720974

Two errant ants fall asleep in the sugar bowl and have to traverse the huge kitchen on the own as they journey back to the anthill. (fiction)

ISBN: 0395486688

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Student Resources for First Grade

Ant Web Cam accessed from AntCam.com http://www.antcam.com/ on November 28, 2005Students can watch ants through a live web-cam. The images are updated every 12 seconds. Students can watch ants throughout the day

Ant Farm Movie accessed from Steve’s Ant Farm http://www.stevesantfarm.com/p45.html on November 29, 2005 Students can download a QuickTime move of an ant farm and observe ants building tunnels and moving objects.

InternetQuest accessed from Read, Write, Think http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=80&title= accessed on November 27, 2005 Interactive whole class activity where the students can provide information to the teacher as she types it on the screen. Factual information is included about ants. The class can produce a chart of information about ants.

Interactive ant survival game accessed from PestWorld http://www.pestworldforkids.org/archibald/index.html on November 27, 2005 Game format where to be successful the user must find food for the ant and escape hazards so he can move on to the net level.

Lamb, Annette, Johnson, Larry, Ants, 42Explore, http://42explore.com/ants.htm accessed on November 29, 2005 Resource page with many links for more ant pages, information about ants separated into “easier” and “harder” useful for young students or group of students with teacher facilitation.

Indiana Academic Standards for First Grade

Science Standard 4: The Living EnvironmentDiversity of Life1.4.1 Identify when stories give attributes to plants and animals, such as the ability to

speak, that they really do not have.1.4.2 Observe and describe that there can be differences, such as size or markings,

among the individuals within one kind of plant or animal group.

Interdependence of Life1.4.3 Observe and explain that animals eat plants or other animals for food.1.4.4 Explain that most living things need water, food, and air.

Language Arts Standard 1: READING: Word Recognition, Fluency, and Vocabulary DevelopmentConcepts About Print1.1.1 Match oral words to printed words.1.1.2 Identify letters, words, and sentences.

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1.1.3 Recognize that sentences start with capital letters and end with punctuation, such as periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

Decoding and Word Recognition1.1.11 Read common sight words.

Read aloud smoothly and easily in familiar text.

Standard 4: WRITING: Process1.4.1 Discuss ideas and select a focus for group stories or other writing.

Standard 2: READING: Comprehension1.2.1 Identify the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents of a reading selection.1.2.2 Identify text that uses sequence or other logical order.Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level Appropriate Text1.2.3 Respond to who, what, when, where, why, and how questions and discuss the

main idea of what is read.1.2.4 Follow one-step written instructions.1.2.5 Use context (the meaning of the surrounding text) to understand word and

sentence meanings.1.2.6 Confirm predictions about what will happen next in a text by identifying key

words.

Standard 6: WRITING: English Language ConventionsHandwriting1.6.1 Print legibly and space letters, words, and sentences appropriately.Sentence StructureWrite in complete sentences.

Standard 7: LISTENING AND SPEAKING: Skills, Strategies, and ApplicationsComprehension1.7.1 Listen attentively.1.7.2 Ask questions for clarification and understanding.1.7.3 Give, restate, and follow simple two-step directions.Speaking Applications1.7.6 Recite poems, rhymes, songs, and stories.

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Mary Gish Fall 2005SLIS 551 Project 3

Books for High SchoolA marine’s personal narrative of his experience in Desert Storm.(Optional student selection due to graphic language) Interesting story (and major motion picture) about a marine and his personal experiences and feelings during the Gulf War.

ISBN: 0743287215

Letters from military personal chronicling their experience during the Gulf War from boot camp to homecoming. Students will use this book to read personal letters home and cross reference world events to the time when the letters where written.

ISBN: 078671462X

Indiana Academic Standards for High School Unit

Social Studies – United States HistoryStandard 8: The Contemporary United States: 1980 to the Present

USH.8.1 Identify and explain the importance of key events and people associated with domestic problems and policies from 1980 to 2001.

USH.8.2 Identify and explain the importance of key events and people associated with foreign policy from 1980.

Language ArtsStandard 2: READING: Comprehension Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text12.2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in several types of expository texts by

using a variety of consumer, workplace, public, and historical documents.12.2.4 Make reasonable assertions about an author’s arguments by using

hypothetical situations or elements.12.2.5 Analyze an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs about a

subject.Expository (Informational) Critique12.2.6 Critique the power, validity, and truthfulness of arguments set forth in

public documents; their appeal to both friendly and hostile audiences; and

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the extent to which the arguments anticipate and address reader concerns and counterclaims.

Standard 3: READING: Literary Response and AnalysisNarrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text12.3.2 Evaluate the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents

a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim.12.3.3 Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the author’s style, and the

“sound” of language achieve specific rhetorical (persuasive) or aesthetic (artistic) purposes or both.

Student Resources for High School

The Gulf War, PBS, accessed http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/ on November 25, 2005 Personal accounts of the experiences during the Gulf War. Audio and transcripts are included. Information about weapons and technology is also included. Students will use this site to hear first hand accounts of experiences during the Gulf War.

Library of Congress, Experiencing War, accessed http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/video-audio.html on November 25, 2005 A searchable database containing personal accounts and experiences during wartime. Contains audio, video and transcripts. Students will use this site to locate information from veterans from various wars to compare experiences between wars.

Library of Congress, Forever a Soldier, accessed http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/foreverasoldier/ on November 25, 2005 Companion website for the book, Forever a Soldier. Searchable database with personal accounts by veterans of various wars. . Students will use this site to locate information from veterans from various wars to compare experiences between wars.

Library of Congress, Veterans History Project, accessed http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/vhp/html/search/search.html on November 25, 2005 Searchable database with first person accounts by veterans of various wars. Searches can be done by branch, war or name. Contains audio, video, text, and photographs. . Students will use this site to locate information from veterans from various wars to compare experiences between wars.

National Geographic, Human Conflict accessed http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/refugees/effect.html on November 25, 2005 Videos and accounts of human conflict by individuals witnessing events first hand. Students will use this site as a resource about the effect of war in Kuwait.

National Geographic, The Persian Gulf: After the Storm, accessed http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/storyD_story.html on November 25,

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2005 Descriptive account of the oil well fires in Kuwait. Students will obtain background information about the oil well fires in Kuwait.

Story Preservation, accessed http://www.storypreservation.com/ on November 25, 2005 Guidelines and suggestions on how to create and preserve personal stories. Students will read suggestions and guidelines that they can use to create their own personal story and narratives.

References

American Library Association, KCTools, accessed http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=K-12_Students&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=21725 on December 1, 2005

American Library Association, Information Literacy Standards accessed http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/informationpower/informationliteracy.htm on December 1, 2005

The Big6, accessed http://www.big6.com/ on December 4, 2005

The Gulf War, PBS, accessed http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/ on November 25, 2005

From Now On, Filling the Tool Box accessed http://www.fno.org/toolbox.html on December 7, 2005

Jean Piaget Society, http://www.piaget.org/ accessed on December 5, 2005

Lamb, Annette, Johnson, Larry, Ants, 42Explore, http://42explore.com/ants.htm accessed on November 29, 2005

Lamb, Annett, Callison, Danny, Virtual Learning, accessed http://virtualinquiry.com/index.htm on November 20, 2005

Lamb, Annette, Planning for Information Inquiry, accessed http://eduscapes.com/info/planning.html on November 20, 2005

Lamb, Annette, Exploring Existing Teaching and Learning Resources, accessed http://eduscapes.com/info/lesson.html on November 20, 2005

Library of Congress, Experiencing War, accessed http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/video-audio.html on November 25, 2005

Using Primary Sources on the Web accessed http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/#one on December 5, 2005

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Library of Congress, Forever a Soldier, accessed http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/foreverasoldier/ on November 25, 2005

Library of Congress, Veterans History Project, accessed http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/vhp/html/search/search.html on November 25, 2005

McKenzie, Jamie, Module Maker, accessed http://questioning.org/module/module.html on November 17, 2005

National Geographic, Human Conflict accessed http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/refugees/effect.html on November 25, 2005

National Geographic, The Persian Gulf: After the Storm, accessed http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/storyD_story.html on November 25, 2005

Indiana Department of Education accessed http://www.doe.state.in.us/welcome.html on December 1, 2005

Indiana Academic Standards, Indiana Department of Education http://www.indianastandardsresources.org/index.asp accessed on November 29, 2005

Story Preservation, accessed http://www.storypreservation.com/ on November 25, 2005

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